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Night owl (person)
A night owl or evening person is a person who tends to stay up until late at night. The opposite of a night owl is an early bird, a lark as opposed to owl, someone who tends to begin sleeping at a time that is considered early and also wakes early. In several countries, early birds are called "A-people" and night owls are called "B-people." Researchers traditionally use the terms "morningness" and "eveningness" for the two chronotypes. Origins of term The term is derived from the primarily nocturnal habits of the owl. Usually, people who are night owls stay awake past midnight and extreme night owls may stay awake until just before or after dawn.Stefan Klein, Time (2008) p. 20 Night owls tend to feel most energetic just before they go to sleep at night. Some night owls have a preference or habit for staying up late, or stay up to work the night shift. Night owls who work the day shift often have a problem with being on time for work. Characteristics Researchers have found that the genetic make-up of the circadian timing system underpins the difference between the early bird and the night owl.Philip Lee Williams, On the Morning (2006) p. 41 Some night owls who have great difficulty adopting normal sleeping and waking times may have delayed sleep phase disorder. Light therapy may be helpful in shifting sleep rhythms for the night owl.Laura H. Smith/Charles H. Elliott, Seasonal Affective Disorder for Dummies (2007) p. 73 While it has been suggested that circadian rhythms may change over time, turning lark to owl (or vice versa),Jeff Belanger/Kirsten Dalley, The Nightmare Encyclopedia (2005) p. 83 evidence for familial patterns of early/late waking would seem to contradict this.Klein, p. 21 Night owls have often been blamed in the past for unpunctuality or attitude problems.Gayle Greene, Insomniac (2008) p. 345 Companies however have begun to learn to increase productivity by respecting body clocks through flexible working;Klein, p. 33 while the Danish "B-Society" of night owls lobbies actively for more workplace flexibility for the post-agricultural world.Greene, p. 345 Others like Hilary Rubinstein would positively celebrate the status of night-owl: "Blessed are the owls, for they shall inherit the mystery and magic of the night."Hilary Rubinstein, The Complete Insomniac (London 1974) p. 19 Prevalence Discussions and studies about the prevalence of morning, evening, and indifferent or intermediate chronotypes use different criteria and come to different results. Some ask what time people do go to sleep and wake up—others ask what time people would prefer to. A survey of over 400 adults showed approximately 15% morning people, 25% evening people, and 60% intermediates. Famous exemplars A list of famous night owls includes:"Famous Night People" * Thomas Edison * Florence King * Fran Lebowitz * Hunter S. Thompson *Adolf Hitler during World War II slept from about 4 to 10 am and napped from about 5 to 7 pm.Robert G. Moeller "The Nazi State and German Society" (Bedford Books, 2010), 169-170. * Charles Bukowski * Winston Churchill * James Joyce * Marcel Proust * Joseph Stalin * Keith Richards * Elvis Presley * Nick Drake * Van Cliburn Literary examples For Robert Louis Stevenson, "there is a romance about all those who are abroad in the black hours."Quoted in Rubinstein p. 211 In Jayne Ann Krentz's Truth or Dare, "Arcadia and Harry were both creatures of the night. They managed to appear oddly stylish at one-thirty in the morning."Jayne Ann Krentz, Truth and Dare (Penguin 2004) p. 258 See also References Further reading Louise Miller, Careers for Night Owls and Other Insomniacs (2002) J. Dunlap et al, Chronobiology (2004) External links * Night People: A Resource and...A Celebration! * Sleep Discrimination Category:Sleep Category:Circadian rhythm Category:Chronobiology {{enWP|Night owl (person)